Chasing The Bus
Chasing The Bus is the eighteenth episode in season two of . Synopsis The entire team investigates a bus crash in which nine people lost their lives. Before his death the driver claimed the bus began to vibrate, making it impossible for him to control the bus. The team has to find out whether the accident truly was an accident, or involved foul play. Plot On a tour bus, various people are listening to music, reading or sharing photos of their family. A man comes from the toilet, sits at the front of the bus and offers the bus driver some alcohol, which he declines. The bus seemingly starts vibrating, getting so strong the bus driver begins to lose control of the bus. The CSI's are called to the scene and watch helplessly as emergency services try to save some of the passengers on the bus. Grissom wants everyone at the scene, but when Greg arrives Nick is told not to allow him to collect evidence (he is not trained in fieldwork). It seems the bus driver was the only one actually wearing his seatbelt. Mr. Maddocks, the bus company owner, seems eager to help and the passenger manifest reveals 24 passengers, including Calvin McBride a PAL (parolee at large). Catherine is told the driver of the car involved is dead so goes to investigate, but is shocked when the driver grabs her hand. As he is rushed to the hospital, Nick and Greg talk to the bus driver, who seems woozy and confused. As Nick tries to breathalyze him he begins coughing up blood and dies. Greg seems frozen in shock. McBride is nowhere to be found but Nick finds the whiskey bottle and thinks the bus driver was drunk. Nick finds McBride's body a short distance from the scene. Catherine finds the car driver going to surgery and he says his name is Eric and 'he just wanted to surprise her', before he is wheeled into surgery. She finds out that he is 32-year old Eric Kevlin, who was on his way to surprise his girlfriend. He dies in surgery but Brass and Catherine wonder why Eric signed a document refusing CPR. Doc Robbins examines the bus driver's body and says he wasn't drunk but had severe hypoglycemia which can cause seizures. He died of internal bleeding, caused by the crash. Examination of the parts of the bus show the bus company was using inferior quality bolts which snapped and caused the suspension to fail. However, this happened after the bus braked and began skidding. Grissom wonders why the bus braked in the first place. The bus company owner insists his buses are of good quality and often checked, but admits to buying the bad quality bolts as they were cheap. Workers at the gas station where the bus stopped say they saw a couple arguing and later it is found that Eric's girlfriend was on the bus. She says he did surprise her- at the station where he tried to interrupt her girls weekend. She says he never wanted to receive CPR as he didn't want to end up hooked on a machine. Grissom says the tire which exploded caused pressure on the suspension, therefore leading to the crash. Sara says the tire was sabotaged by putting chloroform in it to make it explode. Grissom, Catherine, and Brass discuss which of the passengers could be a target, and Brass suggests Eric sabotaged the bus. By now, 9 out of 23 people on the bus have died. The other lab techs think Greg 'disgraced them' by going onto the field and performing poorly, but Sara angrily defends him. She finds prints on the wheel rim from the person who tampered with the tire and matches them to Sean Nolan, another bus driver in the bus company. Nick and Grissom confirm the tire was sabotaged at the gas station in Barstow. Mr. Maddocks fired Nolan 2 months ago for taking marijuana, but he is now working at the gas station in Barstow and since then 3 of Mr. Maddock's buses which have gone through the station have all had exploding tires. Nolan admits to having sabotaged the buses, saying he just wanted to make Mr. Maddocks sorry for firing him. He is arrested, but Catherine comments on how it will be hard for a jury with this case, as although Nolan's recklessness played a part, Mr. Maddock's miserly behavior led to the bus suspension breaking and so they were both involved in the deaths of the 9 people. Cast Main Cast *William Petersen as Gil Grissom *Marg Helgenberger as Catherine Willows *Gary Dourdan as Warrick Brown *George Eads as Nick Stokes *Jorja Fox as Sara Sidle *Paul Guilfoyle as Jim Brass Guest Cast *Eric Szmanda as Greg Sanders *Robert David Hall as Dr. Al Robbins *David Berman as David Phillips *Denis Arndt as Larry Maddox *Joseph D. Reitman as Sean Nolan *Cara Buono as Tracy Logan *Scott Plank as Eric Kevlin *Eddie Jemison as Vincent *Kevin Will as Martin Draper *Eric Matheny as Dr. Hawkins *Lauren Hodges as Jill *Kris Iyer as ER Surgeon *Christopher Caso as Ryan Hyde *Stephon Fuller as Gas Station Attendant *Monica Garcia as Mrs. Parker *Stuart Gold as John Cooper *Jim Hanna as Jack *Jerry Hauck as Mr. Parker *Revital Krawetz as Diane Cooper *Mark Lentry as Calvin McBride *Billy Mayo as Fire Chief James Walker *Julie Mintz as Sabrina Wright *Kate Orsini as Mini-Mart Clerk *Todd E. Slayton as Paramedic *Mona Wyatt as Gwen Murray Major Events *Greg goes out into the field for the first time, when all Las Vegas CSIs are called to the scene. Music *'All Right Now' by Free. Notes *After Greg Sanders asks "Just out of curiosity, what are the unobvious spots?" Gil Grissom mentions, "For bodies? Yeah. Walls, hot water heaters, stuffed in the box spring of a hotel room bed." A body was find in a hot water hearter in a previous episode, Scuba Doobie-Doo. The finding of a body stuffed in the box spring of a hotel room bed is based on a real event. See Also Category:CSI: Las Vegas Episodes Category:Episodes